Unhappy domestic returns for big guns
CHENNAI: Rohit Sharma. Shubman Gill. Yashasvi Jaiswal. Ravindra Jadeja. Rishabh Pant. Shreyas Iyer... it's fair to say that the latest round of the Ranji Trophy had enough stars for a new constellation. Alas, it didn't matter that much as most of them were dismissed cheaply on a bowling day across the country.
At the Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai, Sharma became the first Indian captain to play in the country's premier red-ball competition in well over a decade. But the familiar sight of the 37-year-old trudging back to the pavilion after playing a nothing shot was round the corner. Against Jammu & Kashmir at the Sharad Pawar Academy, he was picked off by Auqib Nabi whose length delivery on a fifth stump line just moved away a touch. The Indian captain wanted a piece of it so he tried to play that very white-ball, pick-up boundary shot over the infield on the leg-side. The ball took the leading edge and was pouched in the covers.
As he walked back, it wasn't hard to wonder what was going on in Ayush Mhatre's mind, the Mumbai opener who has sparkled this season. But with a BCCI diktat in place, India's Test regulars were slotted at Mhatre's expense. Episodes such as these could have ramifications down the lines. If Sharma was dismissed for three, Gill was out for 4 while Rishabh Pant made one. Not happy returns.
Asking Test regulars to take part in the Ranji Trophy is a fine move but getting them to do it now, with less than a month to go for the Champions Trophy, smacks of short-termism and nothing else. India's next Tests aren't till June so there is little point in asking all of them to turn out for their domestic sides now. It's not like the selectors and the coach will pick the squad for the England series based on what Sharma, Jaiswal and Gill did in a one-off, contextless four-day game in January.
Siddarth lifts TN
C Andre Siddarth's maiden century helped Tamil Nadu pass the 300-mark against Chandigarh in Salem on Thursday. The visitors, who opted to field, found the going tough in the early part of the day before Nishunk Buirla dismissed both openers. Vishu Kashyap's 5/79 did the star turn for them after Baba Indrajith and Siddarth 121-run stand for the fifth wicket. Just as the shadows started to lengthen across the ground, the last wicket fell for the hosts with the score at 301.
Brief scores: TN 301 in 89.1 ovs (Siddarth 106, Indrajith 49, Mohamed 40, Jagadeesan 63, Jagjit 2/73, Nishunk 2/61, Vishu 5/79) vs Chandigarh; Hyderabad 291 for 2 in 90 ovs (Tanmay 137, A Reddy 73; A Vashist 1/35) vs Himachal Pradesh; Vidarbha 165 in 57.3 ovs (Karun 39; K Ahmed 5/37) vs Rajasthan 101 for 5 in 30 ovs (Lomror 44 n.o; Kapse 2/17); Andhra 245 or 7 in 90 ovs (Rasheed 105, Sasikanth 57 n.o; Abin 3/37) vs Puducherry; Punjab 55 in 29 ovs (Koushik 4/16) vs Karnataka 199/4 in 50 ovs (R Smaran 83 n.o; M Markande 1/6); MP 160 in 60.2 ovs (S Sharma 54, V Iyer 42; MD Nidheesh 5/44) vs Kerala: 54 for no loss in 18 ovs; Mumbai 120 in 33.2 ovs (S Thakur 51; U Nazir 4/41, Yudhvir Singh 4/31) vs J&K 174/7 (S Khajuria 53, A Mushtaq 44; Mohit 3/34); Meghalaya 198 in 64.3 ovs (S Kumar 40, J Singh 43; T Kumar Das 6/67, S Kumar Roul 3/31) vs Odisha 70 for no loss in 18 ovs); Maharashtra 258/7 in 86 ovs (S Veer 48, S Nawale 60 n.o; Atit 3/48) vs Baroda.